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Do Empowerment Programmes Actually Empower Women?
Md Shahidulla Kaiser1, Siraj Ud Doullah2, Shamim Noor3
Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong,
BANGLADESH.
1
[email protected], [email protected], 3 [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Women are powerless, disadvantaged and their access to resources and ownership of
properties are minimal in most of the developing countries. In order to empower
women in those developing societies, many empowerment programmes like
microfinance, political mobilization, and providing education opportunities are in
place. Even the notion of women’s empowerment is also included in the Millennium
Development Goals. The paper tries to examine the different empowerment
programmes along with their successes and limitations towards empowering women.
It is evident from the study that the result of empowerment programmes is mixed. The
empowerment programmes significantly contribute to women’s empowerment but do
not empower all women in all situations and equally. Empowerment is also related to
the determination of the women themselves.
Keywords: Women empowerment, Microfinance, Political mobilisation, Education
INTRODUCTION
If we look at the total population of the world, we see women constitute almost half of the
world’s population. However, considering the number of poor people in the world, women
are major than men with a number of 70 percent of the total poor (Verma, 2009). Women are
powerless, disadvantaged and socially and educationally backward and their access to
resources and ownership of properties are minimal in most of the developing countries. Over
the decades, there had been attempts from different spheres to ensure the power of women
particularly in developing world. Even the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also
want to achieve the empowerment of women across the globe. In order to enhance the
empowerment of women, different programmes are undertaken by the national governments
along with local NGOs and INGOs supported by international donors.
According to the indicators of MDG goal 3, the numbers of women representatives in
national parliament should be increased. The need for women’s representation in the local
governments has also been underscored by the UN Millennium Project Task Force report on
Education and Gender equality (UNMP/TFEGE, 2005). Apart from this political
mobilization, many other programmes like microcredit schemes for women, education
opportunity for girls, introducing ICT programmes and income generating programmes are in
place in order to promote empowerment of women in many developing countries. But there
are growing debates, whether these programmes are really empowering women or not? The
increase of women’s representation in political system is of course a strategic change in the
empowerment of women but does not necessarily directly correlate with the empowerment of
mass poor women (Subrahmanian, 2004). Microcredit has been widely used as a panacea in
empowering women and it has also mixed results. Microcredit has enabled poor women to
come out from the houses to public spheres as the first step of women’s empowerment but it
has also suppressed their empowerment in creating problems like increased domestic
violence, losing control over credits in some situations. In relation to success of microcredit
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to empower women, Swain and Wallentin (2009) argue that women’s empowerment happens
only when women can challenge existing social norms and culture for their well being by
participating the Self Help Groups of Microfinance and not all the members get empowered
as same pace. Education is, of course, a vital element in the empowerment of women, but if
there are fewer opportunities to utilise those knowledge in their empowerment then it is
merely an added qualification to them (Kabeer, 2005).
In this paper, there will be an attempt to critically look at the different empowerment
programmes aimed to enhance women’s empowerment and determine their successes and
limitations.
EMPOWERMENT: WHAT IT IS?
Empowerment has become one of the most widely discussed ‘development terms’ over the
decades. Government, NGOs, women groups, international aid agencies are working from
their respective fields in order to promote the empowerment of women. Yet it is widely used,
the notion of ‘empowerment’ is not so simple and there is no unanimous way to measure and
observe it. Kabeer (2001) asserts that the empowerment could be complex in the same
context because it has multiple dimensions and routes.
On the other hand, empowerment is a bottom-up process and different from past top-down
approaches of development. Murphy-Graham (2010) sees the word ‘power’ as core to the
notion of empowerment. The notion of power depends on possession of assets and increased
capabilities. Empowerment again challenges the current power structures that determine the
position of men and women in a given society. Empowerment is a transformative process that
challenges not only patriarchy but also the structures of class, race, religion and ethnicity,
which determine the condition of women and men (Batliwala, 1994; Kabeer, 1994). Charmes
and Weiringa (2003:421) assert that the empowerment of both men and women depends on
three dimensions ‘exposing the oppressing power of the existing gender relations, critically
challenging them and creatively trying to shape different social relations’. Kaler (2001)
argues that sometimes the notion of empowerment can be a zero sum game with the concept
of ‘loss of power on the gain of power’. In a study, Kaler (2001) shows the empowerment of
women as of using female condoms is viewed as threat to the masculinity by their male
counterparts. However, Swift and Levin (1987:75) argue ‘there is nothing in the definition of
empowerment that requires that increasing of power of one person or group means decreasing
the power of another person or group’.
Given the situation, a gendered view of empowerment can be ‘a process of enablement of
women so that they become capable of taking control of their circumstances; the resources
available in their environment; and of exerting influence over the decision making process at
various levels (Verma, 2009:232). We can term ‘empowerment’ as a process which
challenges the existing power relations within society and enables a particular group to
negotiate, bargain and demand their new position where the concept of ‘loss of power on the
gain of power’ can occur.
EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES TO EMPOWER WOMEN
Since the notion of development has been created, the need for changes in the lives of poor
has been recognised by the respective governments, development agencies and donors. It is
very evident that the women are the major portion of poor people in the developing countries.
So, there had been different types of development programmes to reduce the poverty of poor
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women. Particularly during the 80s, at the time of the emergence of many NGOs, the concept
of women development and empowerment has got a new dimension in the global
development initiatives. Apart from government initiatives, NGOs and Women groups
initiated numerous programmes for the sake of changes in the lives of poor women. Bano
(2009) asserts that women empowerment programmes are central to the working of most
international development agencies.
In recent days, there has been many development programmes to empower women. These
programmes have been even recognized by the global agencies like United Nations, World
Bank and other international donors. Microcredit for women, education opportunity for
women, enhanced political mobilization and participation by women, using ICT as a tool for
women development are some of the programmes that are being used worldwide, particularly
in the developing countries, to empower the women.
POLTITICAL MOBILIZATION FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
Political mobilization has been widely used to enhance the empowerment of women by
increasing the number of women representations in the national parliament. Increased
women’s participation in national parliaments has also been recognized as one of the goals of
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the UN summit in 2000. Political participation is
a process where the women are encouraged to participate in political issues and it is part of
women’s political empowerment.
The increase of women’s share of seats in national parliament and local governmental bodies
can help to broaden the ways of women’s empowerment. However, Kabeer (2005:22) argues
that ‘the women who enter national parliaments are not generally drawn from the ranks of
poor people, nor there is any guarantee that they will be more responsive to the needs and
priorities if poor women than many men in parliament’. Rather Kabeer (2005) sees the
women representations in local governments are more relevant to poor women in their
empowerment than the parliaments. Kabeer (2005) further argues that the electoral system is
also important in order to ensure the women empowerment through political mobilization. At
the same time, the interest and ideology of the political parties are very crucial in nominating
more women candidates in the elections.
We can put the example of South Africa in order to determine the success of enhanced
political mobilization in women’s empowerment. After the apartheid period, there have been
significant increases in the numbers of women MPs in national parliament along with
increased women’s representation in local government level in South Africa. In 2009, South
Africa was holding 3rd position in terms of women’s representation in national parliament
behind Rwanda and Sweden (SA Good news, 2009). Does it necessarily change the overall
status of women empowerment on the ground? South African is also notorious in terms of
violence against women. South Africa has the highest reported rape cases in the world despite
having a higher women’s representation in national parliament (Dempster, 2002). Progress of
the world women report 2002 prepared by UNIFEM denotes that some more 13 countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa have higher rates of women participation in the parliament than
developed countries like Japan, France and US (Datta and Sen, 2009). The higher
representation in the parliament does not necessarily ensure the empowerment of grassroots
women in those countries.
Bangladesh is a country where the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition are women
for a long time. But the country is yet show significant achievement in terms of women
empowerment including parliamentary representation. Again, their presence in the key
positions of Bangladesh did not necessarily foster women’s political empowerment
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significantly after the emergence of democratic government since 1991. Bangladesh’s
position in the 2001 Human Development Index was 132th in terms of Gender Empowerment
Measure (GEM) despite having women leaders in two key positions (Halder, 2004)
In many countries, the introduction of Quota system helped to raise the number of women’s
representation in parliament since the beginning of 1990s. Fleschenberg (2007) argues that
most of the women selected as member of parliament in South and Southeast Asia are from
the dominant class and they seldom lead a general women empowerment and gender
sensitive policy making at national level terming the quota as a mean of ‘tokenism’ rather
than empowerment.
However, the increased political participation regardless of all means will create a situation
where the women can raise their voice gradually and contribute to create an environment with
equal rights for all and minimizing gender gap even in the policy making level. Women’s
equal participation in political life plays a significant role in the advancement of women
empowerment because their decision making is at least a crucial matter in the national
parliament and local government level (Khan and Ara, 2006).
MICROFINANCE: A PANACEA FOR WOMEN?
Microfinance is the most widely used measure in order to promote the empowerment of
women by the microfinance institutions in many developing countries. However, Kabeer
(2001) argues that the microcredit’s role in the empowerment of women is a conflicting
conclusion which is real and apparent. As Rahman et al (2009:228) argue that ‘impact of
microfinance on women’s empowerment suffers from negligence of problem arising from
heterogeneity bias’. For this reason, they measured the notion of empowerment in both
borrowers and non-borrowers women of microfinance in their case study.
Women’s empowerment is one of the reasons behind the concept of Microfinance and it is
not the single objectives. Kabeer (2001) rightly argues that there are many reasons behind the
concept of lending money to women apart from empowerment. For this reason, the pattern of
Microcredit providing institutions has been seen not so effective in many situations.
Rutherford (2000) (cited in Kabeer, 2001) suggests that many NGOs aiming to promote
microcredit in South Asia failed to establish an effective financial services because they focus
on many social issues rather than financial services on the ground.
Menon (2007:64-65) argues that microfinance cannot be a magical medicine in the
empowerment of women because in the absence of ‘effective social capital, capacity
building, training’; merely flow of microcredit money to women can lead to an unforeseen
effects rather than poverty alleviation and empowerment. Goetz and Gupta (1996) argue that
most of women’s loans are directly controlled by their male partner while the women are
responsible for the repayment. So, in real situation the notion of women’s empowerment by
this loan is not happening because the women are not in position to control their loan. The
reason behind this is that men in the developing countries are considered as the bread earners
of the family and often, in most cases, it is culturally accepted to allow the male ownership of
properties (Kabeer, 2001)
However the microcredit can bring some positive changes in the lives of poor women who do
not have access to formal economy. Mahmud (2003) puts the example of Bangladesh where
the microcredit loans by the specialised banks like Grameen and other NGOs reaching to the
remote poor women with important consequences for women’s empowerment. These loans
creating a platform where the women are contributing to improve their well -being, literacy
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and schooling of their children, health and nutrition status, labour force participation,
contraceptive use, mobility and ownership of clothing and assets (ibid.).
Kabeer (2005) argues that the microfinance facility apparently creates an opportunity for the
women to make a contribution to the economic productivity and well being of themselves and
other members in the family but it does not automatically empower the women. The notion of
empowerment to the women in providing microfinance sometimes may be uncertain. AlAmin and Chowdhury (2008) argue that giving credit to women sometimes increases
women’s income, also brings benefit like health, livelihoods, violence reduction, self esteem
and self-confidence.
Swain and Wallentin (2009) show two effects of microfinance in the empowerment of
women in direct and indirect ways. The direct benefit for women empowerment is that when
women become a member of group and exposed for training and awareness creating. The
indirect effect is when the women’s bargaining power increased in the household decision
makings as part of relative increased value of women’s time and income because of their
involvement in microfinance.
EDUCATION AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
Women are less educated than men in the context of developing countries. This is one of the
main reasons behind the less presence of women in the formal employment sectors of
developing countries. There is a strong relationship between education and women’s
empowerment, if the women are engaged in paid employment, once completing their
education. This also helps them to come out from informal and agricultural works where their
contribution is often undermined. Sen (2007) argues that educated women send their
daughters to school than uneducated women describing education as a fundamental tool for
women’s empowerment. Swain and Wallentin (2009) see education as vital element when
women go beyond their individual level to engage in greater participation and decision
making in the society. Tawo et al (2009) correlate with education and women’s
empowerment as the education enables women to use their acquired knowledge and skill to
the changes in their surroundings and participate in social, political and economic activities.
Murphy-Graham (2010) argues that intimate relationship can play a vital role in the process
of women’s empowerment by education. Providing education to the women can influence
the intimate relationship which can change the power relations and ultimately the notion of
women’s empowerment happens.
Former Chief Economist of World Bank Lawrence Summers emphasised the need for
education in the development of women. He said ‘an educated mother faces a higher
opportunity cost of time spent caring for the children. She has greater value outside the house
and thus has an entirely different set of choices than she would have without education. She
is married at a later age and is better able to influence family decisions. She has fewer,
healthier children and can insist on the development of all of them, ensuring that her
daughters are given a fair chance … The vicious cycle is thus transformed into a virtuous
circle’ (Cited in Jeffery and Basu, 1996:17). Both formal and informal education can promote
the empowerment of women. Participants in International Seminar on Women education and
empowerment agreed that ‘in order to promote women’s empowerment it is necessary to
create an environment that will allow women to participate in educational programmes and
share the benefit’ (Medel-Anonuevo and Bochynek, 1995: 6-7).
It is widely believed that women’s empowerment can be enhanced by ensuring proper
education for them. Even in the Millennium Development Goals, the need for education for
women has been stressed. In achieving the MDGs, the need for closing gender gaps in all
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levels of education has been emphasised. It is true that education can play a vital role in the
empowerment of women. Kabeer (2005:16) argues that education can bring changes in
cognitive ability that is crucial to ‘women’s capacity to question, to reflect on, and to act on
the conditions of their lives and to gain access to knowledge, information and new ideas that
will help them to do so’. Kabeer (2005) further argues that education increase women’s
capacity to deal with the outside world, well being of them and their family, brings positive
changes in the power relationships within and outside households and reduces domestic
violence.
However, the success of education in enhancing the women’s empowerment depends on the
context in which it is provided and complex social relationships (Kabeer, 2005). Kabeer
(2005) further argues that in some situation education only helps women to become a better
wife or mother or even to get a good husband. Again, the social relationship matters in
getting education where different communities are treated based on social inequalities and the
notion of empowerment by education proves to be not fully successful.
Sometimes, the notion of empowerment by education could be misleading and confusing.
Kabeer (2005) argues that the curriculum of education is sometimes gender stereotyping
which make the girls as passive, modest and shy. Policy makers also want to see the women
in the spheres of family to improve the condition of family rather than to prepare them for the
equal opportunity in economy and society. In most of the developing countries, the education
is not free fully in all levels. Girls in the poor family are often in a position that cannot meet
the expenses of higher education.
INTRODUCING ICT PROGRAMMES FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
The modern age is believed to be the age of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT). The poor women in the developing countries can be empowered and come out from
the vicious cycle of poverty if they are given modern ICT facilities. At the same time, the
women can be given training on ICT. Green (2008) argues that if the women are given the
knowledge of ICT there is a possibility to enhance their political empowerment. A woman
with ICT knowledge is confident and possesses general knowledge of women’s rights and
gender issues while at the micro level ICT programmes involve women individually and
collectively to be connected with each other and other political institutions to redress their
problems and better solution (ibid). The role of internet is also important in organizing the
women and their groups for mutual benefit at local and international level in the ways of a
holistic women’s empowerment.
Balka (1993) states that internet empowers women in a way where the dispersed users are
connected geographically helping them to find community and organize politically in pursuit
of their own interests. Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank implemented a project where poor village
women received a cell phone with international connectivity. Women do business with the
phone in the village. Thus the bank’s project helping to ‘eradicate poverty not only by
providing the poor with better access to information’ but also ‘low-income women borrowers
can use these phones a means of household income generation’ (James, 2000:774)
However, there are some limitations in empowering women with the help of ICT. All new
ICT equipments are not cheap enough for the rural poor women so that they can use. They
are not in a position to avail those costly items and use in their daily life improve their status
in the society.
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EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: HOW IT CAN BE ACHIEVED?
The notion of women’s empowerment is dependent on various issues in the context a
developing country. Apart from government initiatives, there are many NGOs are working in
order to promote the empowerment of women. For this, they try to include the women in their
programmes. Cornwall (2003) puts an example of Oxfam where they were concerned about
the extra work loads of women, creating distance from community participation and possible
clash with the men in their families so that they can engage in more participatory ways to the
development programmes of Oxfam. Verma (2009:247) argues for the need of empowerment
process ‘simultaneously at individual, group (family) and community levels’.
Kabeer (2001) further shows that in some context, the empowerment of women is purely
dependent on the religious and cultural norms. In Bangladesh, if the women do not participate
in the market transactions because of purdah and other social cultures they will remain
dependent on their male household members to undertake their such activities and their real
economic advancement along with empowerment will be restricted (Kabeer, 2001). Rahman
et al (2009) assert that the age of women could be vital in the determination of women’s
empowerment. They found in their research that the young women are more empowered than
older women. They also found that assets of women play a significant role for the
empowerment of women.
It would not be possible to attain women’s empowerment just excluding male members from
the programmes. Verma (2009) rightly tells that the notion of empowerment must be
understood as the power of sharing, giving, caring and developing the potential of every men
and women rather than to dominate each other. .
Sometimes, the concept of empowerment may not be same in different contexts. The ways of
empowerment of women by the western donors and their implementing NGOs cannot be
feasible for the people some countries. Particularly, religious beliefs have different notion of
empowerment of women than conventional empowerment. Bano (2009) brings an example
in the context of Pakistani society where the traditional Madrasha institutions and religious
beliefs are more dominant to the notion of empowerment than states as because of the
limitation of state sponsored education and employment facilities.
Empowerment cannot be achieved just only implementing the empowerment programmes
targeting women beneficiaries. Rao et al, (1991) rightly argue that empowerment for women
requires involving women in planning and implementations of the project. The other groups
in the society must be in a position to understand the need for women’s empowerment from
gender perspectives. It is very evident from the context of many developing countries that the
male counterparts and policy makers consider empowerment as ‘dirty word’ which is used to
get unfair professional advantage (Tawo et al, 2009)
CONCLUSION
In order to determine the success of the programmes for the empowerment of women, we
need to consider multiple issues in a given context. Not all empowerment programmes are
successful in every spheres of the world and can empower every woman in the same
programme. Microfinance may be successful in some context in the world but it is not a
panacea to the obstacles of women’s empowerment. At the same time, educating women
could be a useful step to make the women more empowered but education without creating
job and earning is not more effective at the end. Increasing the numbers of women
representations in the national parliaments and local governments may be beneficial from the
strategic point of view in empowering women. However, the increase does not necessarily
correlate with the overall empowerment of poor women.
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Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities Vol. 3(2) May 2014
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Empowerment is some extent related to the determination of the women themselves. Unless,
they are firmly determined to be self-reliant, it is very difficult to bring changes in their status
of empowerment. At the same time, there are many factors which are essential in order to
empowerment of women. So at the end, we can say that the empowerment programmes
significantly contribute to the women’s empowerment but do not empower all women in all
situations and equally.
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Leena and Luna International, Oyama, Japan.
ISSN: 2186-8492, ISSN: 2186-8484 Print
(株) リナアンドルナインターナショナル, 小山市、日本.
www.ajssh. leena-luna.co.jp
Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities Vol. 3(2) May 2014
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